DevFest Ukraine: Not an ordinary community event.
I was asked to describe DevFest Ukraine with one word; I chose unique and I’ll tell you why.
Have you ever been somewhere that you had the time of your life and you just wish you could transfer those feelings at a photo? I had a lot of times -and I’m thankful for this! No matter how much technology advances, or how perfect the phone cameras will become, a static image or a few words on a paper (or a screen) can never transfer my feelings, my excitement, my emotions or the vibe and the magic of that moment. DevFest Ukraine is one of those moments. I just wish I’d be able to make you feel what I felt. Since I can’t, I’ll share with you my thoughts and I hope that they’re enough to motivate you and go there next year because it’s totally worth it.
The days before
The communication with the organizers was very good and quick months prior the event. They took care of everything, including giving us some feedback on our presentations, which was much appreciated!
Arriving in Lviv and the day before the DevFest
Getting to Lviv was an adventure, I’m not gonna lie. My first flight was 40+ minutes delayed and the moment we got off the plane the boarding for my next flight had already started, or I thought it had! Luckily enough the next flight was also delayed. The air hostesses and the crew of the Warsaw airport (WAW) did their best to take us from one gate to the other the soonest possible (keeping in mind we had to go through passport control as well). Still it was a hell of a run and flying with LOT will certainly not be my first choice again; it seems that the 30+ minutes delay is ordinary. I talked with a lot of people at the conference: same airline, same problems! Plus, I had exactly the same problems flying back to Amsterdam so it can’t really be a coincidence. When I finally arrived there, we were picked up and took to the hotel. We were given a SIM card with a data bundle (which we all found to be a genius idea 😍), a map of the city, the phone numbers of the organizers in case of an emergency aaaaand the paper clip that actually held everything could be used for extracting your SIM card (yes, they’ve thought about everything!). 2–3 hours later we left all together from the hotel to go for the speakers’ dinner which was in a beautiful restaurant with local food and drinks.
The event
We left quite early from the hotel to go to the venue by bus. At the registration we were given our badges and some swag.
The venue was incredible! From puff bags and hammocks to a silent room where you could watch TV shows with earphones and even a spot you could book a massage session! The stages were big with comfortable chairs for the attendees. They had an extra screen in front of the speaker so you didn’t have to turn to see the projector, they had presenters in case you didn’t have, a wireless microphone, an extra one for the questions and pretty much anything you’d need for a nice presentation. There was also a room for the speakers equipped with food, water, energy drinks, snacks and some more swag. One thing that got me a bit worried was that attendees, speakers and team were all sharing the same WiFi. It turned out that we had zero issues with that even though my presentation did require a connection for the demo of the DialogFlow platform! Strolling around the sandbox area there were some awesome project demos using VR and ML which you could try during the breaks or the sessions with a nice cup of coffee. The intro you ask? Mind = blown! This is not anything close to how an average community event kicks off. It was closer to a Google organized event than to a Google’s community event. Music, lights, cameras, smokes and an amazing intro video that set everyone to the right mood! All these were followed by a star wars themed keynote by Yonatan Levin, and the force was strong with him. There were 4 parallel tracks and all the sessions I followed were great; I can’t wait for the videos to get uploaded so I can see those that I missed.
After parties couldn’t be missing of course and they didn’t let down anyone. The main stage was turned into a dance club with a DJ, drinks, ping pong and foosball tables, and some bracelets were given to everyone but no one would tell us what they were for. Turned out that the bracelets had lights and would all change colors together; a funny note to a great party. That party continued till a bit later for the speakers as did the one the next day, after the event was over 😉
As for Lviv? It’s a city you have to see! It’s not only the old buildings, the fountains or the picturesque squares (nor the hundreds of churches 😂). It’s how lively this city is no matter what time your clock is showing. There were only 2 times I had mixed feelings. When you announced that next year will be the last one and when I was leaving but I’ll quote what was already mentioned from some of us: “Don’t cry that it’s over , smile that it happened”. Thank you GDG Ukraine for this unique experience and everyone that attended. To all the 1000+ attendees, 60+ team members and 45 speakers, I’ll see you in 12 months, on the 12th of October 2018! 😊❤
UPDATE: All session recordings can be found here: https://goo.gl/WqA44H
